Collaboration

Having a mobile device is personal
but it is not a solitary learning experience

What is Eduinnova?
Eduinnova is a joint project with Wolverhampton Local Authority, the School of Engineering at the Catholic University of Santiago Chile, the School of Education at the University of Bristol and backed by Steljes. The project seeks to explore an innovative use of handheld computers to foster collaborative learning, focusing in on dynamic speaking and listening and opportunities for developing interpersonal and social skills
The Eduinnova system also offers teachers an unprecedented level of support for planning and classroom management.

Activities assign children randomly to groups of three who then work together to solve a series of challenges on their individual PDA. Teachers have been particularly impressed by the degree of cooperation that results, even between children who normally find it very challenging to work together. The nature of the Eduinnova activity design means that each group member must play a part. Children who would not normally speak to one and other quickly settled to work.

The degree of enthusiasm and engagement witnessed in Wolverhampton was no surprise to the three visiting researchers from Chile. They have been working to perfect this system in schools across Latin America. An exciting extension to the project at Wolverhampton was the ability to combine work on the PDAs with work on the interactive whiteboard which brought true teaching power to the plenary sessions. Being able to share a view of any student’s PDA  instantly  with the whole class added a new dimension to the Eduinnova model.

Management software not only allows teachers to create and edit content easily and quickly but offers a real time view of who is doing what in the lesson. An instantly interpretable coloured grid guides the teacher to the groups who need some help. A click of the stylus takes the whole class to a problem everyone needs guidance on. Everyone’s results are stored on the teacher’s PDA to help with planning the next lesson.

It is hoped to share further details and developments this work at various events during 2006-7